What we did on our holidays

Eat. Read. Friends. Drink. Walk. Horses. Piggery. Where we stayed there were quail, tuis, pheasants, yellowheads, gannets, oystercatchers and a bunch of other things with wings.

Seen on State Highway 1 between Wellsford and Te Hana: a stationwagon on the side of the road with a large sign advertising FRIED BREĀD. That is the best macron ever.

Tutukaka was lovely as always – we had a great view over the harbour – but every day I said, Stephen Sondheimishly, “And where are the dolphins? There ought to be dolphins. Well, maybe next year.”

So here is Fred Neil in 1966 singing “Dolphins”. What a song, and what a voice:

One night we went to have dinner with our friends Lindsay and Linda who live on Mount Tiger, thereby providing a moderately terrifying drive home on a long and winding road in the rain and dark. So here is Eno in 1974 with “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy”:

We like Northland, but it’s good to be home.